CBT News 40 under 40 honoree Chris Benvie, has deep roots in the automotive industry. His family owned a Ford dealership in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, from 1929 to 2006. Exposed to the business from birth, Benvie made his first car sale at just 14 years old. Currently, he serves as the Director of Marketing and Pre-Owned Operations at McGovern Automotive Group. With 26 years of experience, he has significantly expanded the marketing department, now a dynamic team of five managing social, digital, and traditional media outreach.
Key Takeaways:
1. Benvie’s role as the marketing director is to oversee the group’s 28 dealerships and serve as the director of pre-owned vehicles. On the marketing side, he has a team that can handle both digital and traditional advertising while working alongside the automotive group’s agency marketing team. On the pre-owned side, he has a team of buyers purchasing between 600 and 8,000 vehicles monthly. Additionally, he has a wholesale team that handles all the trade-ins, which amounts to around 800 to 1,000 vehicles per month.
2. Despite starting his journey with McGovern Automotive in the wake of COVID-19, Benvie has witnessed the rapid acceleration of the dealer group’s growth. When he started, the group had seven stores, but it has since closed on its 28th location. When describing one of the proudest moments in his career, Benvie states, “[It’s] being a part of that rapid growth and leading multiple departments while effecting change.”
3. In the next five years, Benvie aims to oversee a group of dealerships from a vice president’s perspective. For example, he aspires to serve as a regional vice president for the dealer group’s luxury stores. Furthermore, he wishes to be more involved in the daily internal operations to help his staff excel even more quickly.
